Will the next pope be Italian? And the unfinished business of Francis’ papacy

Jesuitical

America Media

Spirituality, Christianity, News, News Commentary, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 949 Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome to America magazine’s Conclave Podcast. Our editors are on the ground in Rome covering the conclave to elect the next pope. In today’s episode from Rome, the team discusses: President Donald Trump’s choice for pope The latest from the cardinal pre-conclave meetings The question: Will the next pope be an Italian? The unfinished business of Pope Francis’ papacy, including: synodality, fighting sexual abuse, reforming Vatican governance and an ecumenical trip to Turkey on the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea This episode features: Sam Sawyer, S.J., America’s editor in chief Sebastian Gomes, America’s executive editor of audio and video Colleen Dulle, co-host of America’s “Inside the Vatican” podcast Ashley McKinless, executive editor and co-host of America’s “Jesuitical” podcast Zac Davis, director of digital strategy and co-host of America’s “Jesuitical” podcast Sign up for America’s subscriber-exclusive “Conclave Diary” daily newsletter and get all of our extensive coverage at: AmericaMagazine.org/Subscribe Links from the show: Cardinals say they are expecting a short conclave Watch: Trump jokes he’d ‘like to be Pope’ Synodality—and ‘controversial’ issues—are here to stay: Takeaways from the Synod’s final document The four signs of a truly synodal church Pope Francis issues new rules for accountability and response to allegations of sexual abuse Pope Francis’ new sex abuse rules are a revolution for the Catholic Church Vatican to consider classifying ‘spiritual abuse’ as new Catholic crime With Pope Francis’ reform of the Roman Curia, nine years of work is coming to fruition Podcast: Pope Francis’ Roman Curia reform, explained Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	For nearly 500 years, Jesuit schools, social programs, and parishes have uplifted and transformed communities around the world.
0:09.1	American Jesuits International continues this faith-driven mission, serving as a bridge between the United States and Jesuit programs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
0:20.5	Join us in building a brighter future for communities on the margins.
0:23.6	Donate, advocate, and pray with us at American Jesuits international.org.
0:33.6	Welcome to America Magazine's Conclave Podcast.
0:38.3	I'm Sebastian Goem's an executive editor at America, and you know, Pope Francis accomplished
0:43.3	a lot in the 12 years that he was Pope. We could point to any number of amazing achievements.
0:48.3	But today on the show, we're actually talking about what he left unfinished, and that means he'll be passing that along to his successor,
0:55.8	whoever that is, and they'll have to decide how to move it forward. But before we get to that,
1:00.9	we're going to look at the news of the day, and I'm happy to be joined by Jesuitical co-host,
1:06.1	Zach Davis and Ashley McKinless. Great to be with you, Sebastian. Hello, good to be back. Well, it's good to be with you guys. You know, we were here covering the last two synods in October 2023 and 24.
1:16.8	Obviously, a little bit of a sad occasion coming back for the death of our beloved Pope Francis,
1:21.0	but what an incredible experience it is. And I know the listeners of Jesuitical are going to be
1:24.6	happy to hear your guys take on what's going on. I'm just excited because I actually spend more time with you in Rome than anywhere else in the world, Sebastian,
1:32.5	now that you are a resident of Canada. So I'm just delighted to be in your presence for a few more,
1:37.1	a few more days. Well, who knows? Maybe I'll be a 51st state sometime. That's true. You never know if we get Pope Trump. That's right. That's actually a good segue
1:44.2	into our first news story of the day. Certainly is. So Trump was speaking with reporters outside the
1:49.7	White House on Tuesday and said in what was presumably a joke, quote, I'd like to be Pope. That would be
1:56.1	my number one choice. Yeah. Let's take a listen to the clip here.
1:59.3	As Pope? I'd like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.
2:07.3	I don't know. I have no preference. I must say we have a Cardinal that happens to be out of a place
2:14.1	called New York who's very good. So we'll see what happens. So I think he's clearly joking about himself wanting to become Pope, I think.
	...

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